Andrew Munro is Sir Edmund Hillary in the eponymous TV drama series.
Andrew Munro is Sir Edmund Hillary in the eponymous TV drama series.
Filming has started around the country on Hillary, a six-hour TV drama series for TV One about the life of Sir Ed, before production moves to Nepal.
The biopic includes an all-star cast of local Kiwi actors, including Andrew Munro who plays Hillary, and Dean O'Gorman as George Lowe, his lifelong climbing companion.
Award-winning British actor Damian Lewis (Homeland) was in talks last year to play the big man, but was unavailable.
However, producers and network executives felt it was pivotal a local face should play the famous Kiwi. Enter Munro.
The role is a chance in a lifetime, the actor says ... with some trepidation.
"It's both incredibly exciting and incredibly terrifying to be given the chance to play Ed Hillary," Munro admits.
"He is a figure who commands a lot of respect for the things he achieved in his lifetime and I want to honour that to the very best of my abilities. To be quite honest I'm bloody terrified!"
The TV series, which has $6.4 million funding from New Zealand on Air, explores the life of the mountaineer from his lonely childhood to his troubles at war, conquering of Mt Everest and becoming a national treasure.
But we'll have to wait until 2016 to see it.
Created and written by Sir Ed's friend Tom Scott, who gained exclusive access for his biography, the drama series is in a privileged position to reveal Sir Ed the real man, with private anecdotes and personal secrets.
Executive producer Phil Smith, whose company Great Southern Film and Television is behind the series, says Scott's friendship is key.
"Sir Edmund shared a very special relationship with Tom Scott and gifted him thousands of hours of interviews allowing Tom to write the most definitive and thrilling drama on a truly great New Zealand hero."
TV3's new morning breakfast show fronted by Paul Henry has no firm start date set because the new $2 million purpose-built studio is yet to be constructed.
"It is a long way off from launching. It won't be going to air before March 31 at the earliest. The studio hasn't even been built yet," a source told The Diary.
A network spokeswoman says it is a big project, with the studio and set being constructed off-site. "Everything is progressing well. We have kept the timeline under the radar, and the plan was never to come back early when Firstline started." She was unable to provide a start date.
But a media insider says the investment is unlikely to net a return for the network. "They're never going to recoup that cost. The morning show won't make money. It won't draw the kind of top-dollar advertising spend you can get on primetime, it's that simple."
Henry has been into TV3 this week to check on progress of his show and the studio space, while fulfilling marketing commitments for the upcoming programme, including promotional photo shoots.
He told The Diary he was disappointed with the lack of progress. "Frankly, not a lot has been done since I left on holiday last year."
He said he has spent January holidaying in America, and now he's taking his new million-dollar cruising launch to the Bay of Islands for a two-week vacation. Then it's back to work fulltime. As for his programme, it's a slow boat to showtime.
Gower gets a dressing down
Paul Henry. Photo / Peter Meecham
First Seinfeld did it with Sneans; now Patrick Gower is sporting the Snuit, but are sneakers and business suit appropriate attire for a political editor in Parliament?
Fashionistas raised impeccably groomed brows this week to tut-tut.
But the dressed-down ensemble won't be a regular occurrence, says Gower.
"I had a bad case of blisters. It won't be my new look. It's all right for guys like [David] Farrier, but not me."
Sir Viv to honour mother in celebrity challenge
A highlight of the BMW New Zealand Open in Queenstown next month is the inaugural ANZ Celebrity Challenge, where former cricketing legends will swap bats for clubs.
But for Sir Viv Richards, the tournament will be a chance to honour his beloved mother Grathel, who passed away last week, aged 91, and play in her memory.
Sir Viv will be taking to the golf course with fellow West Indian Brian Lara, Englishmen Sir Ian Botham and Graeme Swann, Australians Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne and Kiwis Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle and Mark Richardson.
Warne is no slouch on the golf course. He played at the Abu Dhabi invitational last month, alongside pro golfer Simon Dyson.
